Cora, daughter of Demeter
by BlueFluffyNarwhals
Summary: Cora is a normal 6th grader. However, her life soon changes. Percy and Annabeth bring her to Camp Half Blood and she soon realizes the mother who she thought was dead...was actually a goddess.
1. Chapter 1

" Cora, is this seat taken?" I looked up from my sandwich. A girl I had never seen before was standing impatiently before me. How did she know my name?

"Um. No." I said. "Are you new to Franklin Middle?" The girl gave me a confused look.

"Earth to Cora, hon, I'm in all of your class. Remember?"

"What? No... " I said. The girl just rolled her eyes. Was I supposed to know her? I was pretty sure I had known everyone in the whole grade. But this girl…

"Cora musta gotten a concussion." My friend, Ben joked.

"No, I didn't." I protested.

"Whatever." The girl said, sliding into the seat next to me. "Ben, do you want to go see the new Godzilla movie with me after school?"

Ben grinned. "Sure." He said.

"What's your name?" I asked her.

She said, "Cora, are you sure you didn't get a concussion? My name is Amber." I was pretty sure there was no one named Amber in the entire school, but I thought they would think I was crazy if I said anything else.

After school, I decided to go see the Godzilla movie. I figured I could watch it with Ben but then I remembered he was watching it with the girl, Amber. But I decided to go anyways. I left a note for Mom and rode my bike to the AMC Theater.

When I finally found a seat, I noticed that Amber and Ben were sitting one row below me. The movie was ok and the popcorn was _amazing._ Just then, as the movie was about to end, I saw Amber and Ben lean in for a kiss. _Yuck_. I turned away. But then, I smelled smoke. Amber's red hair was burning. I did the first thing that popped in my head- I grabbed my soda and dumped it on Amber's head, hoping it would quench the flames. It didn't. Amber just turned around angrily. I suddenly realized she smelled like horses. The smell I remembered from my cousin's ranch in Texas.

"What the F***!" Amber screamed in rage, her hair burning brighter than ever. "Back off, Cora daughter of Demeter, he's mine." She hissed. She stood up. Daughter of what? Suddenly I heard a strange clunking noise. I looked down and saw that one of Amber's legs was made out of bronze. And the other one...the other one was a donkey leg!

"Cora?" Ben said, bewildered. "What are you doing here?" Amber suddenly leaned in. I thought she was going to try to kiss Ben again. Ben cried out in pain. A gash had opened up where Amber's lips touched. I realized she had bitten him. Blood trickled down his face. Amber was lapping up the blood in relish. I screamed.

"Vampire!" I shrieked. I hurled my popcorn at her and tried to pull her away from Ben but she grabbed me and threw me against my seat. My head connected with the chair leg. I noticed that no one else was paying attention to what was going on.

"Try empousa, hon." Amber smiled, her lips covered in blood.

"You...you...have a donkey leg…" Was all I could stammer out. Amber let out a high pitched wail.

"Don't make fun Cora, dear. At least my face is prettier than yours." She snarled. Suddenly, a knife appeared in her chest and she started to disintegrate. I closed my eyes and held my head. Was I imagining this whole day? I hoped this was a nightmare. When I opened my swollen eye, I saw a pile of sand and a limb body. A hand reached out and pulled me up. A lady, probably in college, was helping me up. In her hand was a knife coated in yellow dust. Her eyes were a distinct stormy gray. Beside her stood a young man with black hair and sea green eyes.

"Uh. Thanks." I said. The lady nodded. The dude, probably her boyfriend, said, "Annabeth, we have to get her to camp. The empousa called her a daughter of Demeter!"


	2. Chapter 2

Bring her to camp? What? Were they going to kidnap me? A million thoughts ran through my head. My mouth felt dry.

"Please," I croaked, "my grandma doesn't have a lot of money." The guy looked confused. They didn't say anything but just studied me, probably seeing if I was worth mugging. I turned and ran.

"Come back!" shouted the dude. He chased after me. I struggled to grab my phone out of my purse as I ran. I dialed 9-1-1.

"Help!" I shouted, "My name is Cora Williams. Please! Help- " The last thing I remembered before I blacked out was a metallic blurr coming at my head.

I felt like I was floating, drifting in and out of consciousness. When I finally awoke, I found myself a bed. My first thought was that Annabeth and that dude kidnapped me, but then, I saw a glass of amber liquid right on the bed stand as if it was set there for me. I reached for the glass and placed it to my lips. I was expecting apple juice, but when the cool liquid washed over my tongue, I nearly cried. It tasted like my Dad's homemade pumpkin pie and Monica's hot chocolate. Monica is my grandma but my nickname for her is Mom. As I drained the last of my glass, the door creaked open. A girl about my age stepped into the doorway. She had blonde hair. like Annabeth's, but more golden.

She gave me a shy smile and said, "Hi. I'm Lacy."

"Um… hi?" I said suspiciously. "Where am I? Why am I here? Is this a torture camp? Why do I feel like I got hit in the head with a mallet?"

"This isn't torture camp. And, well…" Said Lacy. "You did get hit in the head with a bronze sword butt…"

" _What_?"

"Percy had to knock you out…" Lacy said, then added, "He says he's very sorry."

"Wait. Is Percy that dude with Annabeth?"

"Yes."

"Oh. He's kinda cute."

"Don't let Annabeth hear you. She'd kill you if you tried to steal Percy." Lacy warned. She helped me out of bed. "I'll let Chiron explain the rest to you cause' I'm really bad at explaining things and… I need to paint my nails."

"Chiron?" Chiron sounded like a name for a cafe. Or a sports brand.

"Chiron's the activities director here." Lacy explained as she opened the door. I gasped. The view outside was amazing. It looked like a postcard from Switzerland. There was a valley with a crystal clear lake at the bottom and a semi- circle of cabins. The cabins were of all shapes and sizes. One had flowers and trees growing on the roof and another was surrounded with what looked like barbed wire and painted blood red. Other than that, the camp didn't really look like a torture camp. Lacy led me towards the front of the house. Sitting on the porch was a man with… horse legs? Was I hallucinating about this whole thing? First, a weird vampire with a donkey leg, and now, a dude with horse legs. Great. Beside the horse-dude, sat a pudgy man with curly brown hair, the dude, Percy, and Annabeth. They were playing an intense game of cards together. When the pudgy dude saw me, he groaned.

"Why do I always have to explain things? Doesn't anyone watch the orientation film?" He complained.

"Uh. Mr. D, there is no orientation film." Annabeth said. Mr. D sighed and waved his hand. A can of diet coke appeared. I gasped and closed my eyes. Being wacked in the head was probably making me lose my mind. When I opened my eyes, the diet coke can was still there and Mr. D was eyeing me suspiciously as he drank. The horse guy cleared his throat.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood." He said. Camp Half-Blood? Half-Blood sounded kind of like an insult, not a name for a camp. "You must be very confused, and such, so let me explain." He placed down his cards and trotted over to me. "Follow me." He said.

I followed the horse guy down the hill, towards the cabins.

"Um." I said stupidly. "So, you like dressing up like a horse?"

Horse Man looked offended. "I'm a centaur." He said.

"Am I hallucinating?" Was my school lunch contaminated with pixie dust? Was my lunch disagreeing with me? I thought the school lunch was bad, but not that bad.

"Cora," The centaur's voice stopped my thoughts. "Do you know about the greek gods?"

"Yes?" Monica had bought a bunch of greek mythology books from this yard sale and made me read all of them even though the words flew off the page like pegusi I was reading about.

"Well, they are real and living in America."

"No way." I backed away and tripped over a rock. I was probably imagining this whole thing. Or, Camp Half- Blood was actually real and people there were weirdos who dressed like centaurs. The centaur stepped closer to me and I broke into a run.

"The woods are stocked." The centaur yelled. "You can try your luck if you wish." _Stocked with what?_ I thought. The first thing that popped in my head was that the woods were stocked with shoes. I pushed away that ridiculous thought and kept running. _Well, whatever._ I thought. The woods didn't look scary at all. I figured I could just run right through into someone's backyard and call 911 again. But boy was I wrong. Just as I came into the woods, something grabbed me and pulled me back. A cute boy about my age had just grabbed me by the hand. I blushed and tried to yank my hand away. His clenched my hand with surprising strength and said, "It's dangerous to be in the woods at night."

"Well, then, why are you in here?" I retorted. "I have every right to walk out of here. 'Cause I got kidnapped-"

"I was just coming back from Bunker 9. Ok?" He said. He looked away and let go of my hand. "Just… there's a lot of monsters out here. Last time, an unclaimed kid tried to sneak away. The next day, the dryads found a pile of bones." Dryads? The name sounded familiar and I remembered that it was a tree nymph.

"Monsters? Dryads?" I asked. "You're kidding, right?" But one look at his face told me otherwise. "But. Those things don't exist. They're just myths."

"No." the boy insisted. "They're real." In the distance, I smelled barbecue cooking. My stomach growled loudly. When was the last time I ate? It must have been hours ago.

The boy said, "Come on." and started to head towards the camp. It seemed like a fishy set up but I was so hungry I didn't care.


	3. Chapter 3

On the walk back, the boy told me his name was Ryan. He told corny jokes and tried to make me laugh. His boyish grin reminded me of Ben and my heart filled with guilt. I remembered the limp body on the floor and the devilish shriek of Amber. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes but I willed myself not to cry in front of Ryan. Crying in front of a cute boy is _never_ a good way to introduce yourself. We cut through the strawberry field and started towards the cabins. The sun was sinking below the foamy sea in the distance and making the sky a pearly pink. Ryan told me that he really enjoyed working on mechanics and that his father was Hephaestus.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, right." I said, crossing my arms. "Then my dad is Zeus."

"I wouldn't say that if I were you." Ryan warned. The sky that had been pink seconds before had turned gray. Lightning rumbled overhead. "You can't just go around saying a god's name."

"Why?" I demanded, suddenly feeling rebellious. "There's a freedom of speech here. I can say whatever I want."

Ryan shook his head. "You don't understand the power of names." He made me sound like I was a naive child who didn't understand anything. I was annoyed and defiant.

"Zeus! Hera! Ares!" I hollered.

"No! Don't-" He said it a little too late, because- _**Boom!**_ A lightning bolt struck the ground we were standing next to. I screamed and tried to stamp out the fire on my shirt.

"And that is why you shouldn't say things like that." Ryan said grimly. His shoes were half melted into the ground and his hair was singed at the top. I doubt I looked any better.

"Um….sorry?" I said shakily.

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to the nymph." He wrenched his sneaker from the dirt.

"Are you still serious about this god thing?" I asked. "Things like this could happen all the time! And besides, he isn't even real! There's actually science behind lightning! The greeks only made him up 'cause that needed and explanation about how the world worked!" Ryan stared at me. I glared back. But when I turned around, I saw a very angry lady glaring at me. Ryan was staring wide-eyed at her with a horrified expression on his face. I gasped in surprise and backed away when I realized her skin was green tinted. Some parts of it were red and swollen. Her her dress was singed black and her hair was wispy and dry, like corn husks. The tree behind her didn't look any better. The tips of the tree were charred and sizzling.

"How dare you burn my tree!" The lady shrieked. She looked down right murderous. "I will get revenge on you!"

"Come on!" Ryan hissed.

Ryan grabbed me by the shoulders and steered me away.

"W-w-what...was t-t-that?" I stuttered, shaken by the angry green lady. Was she the Hulk's aunt? Why did she look soo... green?

"That was a nymph." Ryan said.

"Look, Ryan, I'm sorry… I… believe you now…" I stammered, looking at the ground. Ryan shook his head.

"It's too late for sorry now 'cause that nymph is really going to make your life terrible here. I'd watch out for mud in your pillows if I were you." A bunch of kids at a table inside the pavilion were waving at him and he walked away. Leaving me feeling very scared, confused and guilty. I could have stood there for a century, but the centaur walked by me and invited me to sit at one of the tables. I could have ran right then, but I was actually starting to believe this nonsense about gods and goddesses- the tree nymph and the lightning bolt had totally convinced me. I sat down at a crowded table and was squashed between a boy and a girl. The girl was around my age and she looked elfish. so did the boy. He however, was around six or seven. As I looked around the table, I noticed that nearly all the people sitting there had almost the same features- elfish faces and sneaky smiles. The girl smiled at me and I instinctively clutched my necklace. She looked like she wanted to pick my pockets. She frowned at me.

"I won't steal your necklace!" She said, looking offended. "Just because I'm a daughter of Hermes doesn't mean that I'm always thief!" I noticed how she said the word "always".

"Daughter of Hermes?" I asked cautiously, "Isn't that the god of- "

"Yes, thieving, travelers, etcetera." She interrupted. "And you, are obviously not a child of Hermes."

"Wait." I said. "If you're a daughter of Hermes, is everyone else at this table a child of Hermes?"

"Duh!"

"Then why am I here?" I asked, annoyed.

"Because you're unclaimed! Hermes is the god of travelers, he takes care of all the unclaimed people!" She said this as if it were obvious.

I didn't want to ask her what unclaimed meant so I dug into my meal. It was good. Really good. The barbeque was making me thirsty so I asked the person across the table where I could get water. The boy stared at me with a strange look on his face.

"It's in your cup, duh." He responded.

"What?"

He sighed and said, "Just say what drink you want!" It seemed odd, but I did. Then, he turned back to his food.

"Lemonade?" I said warily. _How was saying a word going to help? Was this guy just pulling my leg? Hermes was the god of tricksters_ … right at that moment, I suddenly realized my cup was now full of-

"Lemonade!" I cried. Everyone around me stared. I was considering about ducking under the table when someone farted loudly. The Hermes table snickered and giggled while a table of tough looking kids belched loudly in return. A table of girls in gucci clothing fanned their noses and glared. I gave a sigh of relief. The attention was finally off me.

After dinner, we all gathered around the campfire. We toasted marshmallows and sang songs. I tried to fit in and not let my marshmallows catch on fire. I didn't know any of the songs the people sang. They were songs like "My Nereid lies in the Ocean" and "I like Ambrosia". When the fire died out, everyone started to head towards the cabins. I was confused and scared. _What cabin would I sleep in? What if I went to the wrong cabin?_ I followed the crowd towards the cabins. Someone grabbed me by the sleeve and pulled me back.

"Hey!" I shouted and tried to yank my sleeve away. The hand let go of my sleeve.

"Don't run." The voice was soothing. I let it wash over me like a wave. I froze. _Of course I wouldn't run._ "Turn around and face me." The voice demanded. I whirled around. A girl was standing there, glaring at me. She was no older than I was, but she looked regal and beautiful. I instantly despised her. She had no pimples, no acne and her skin was perfect.

"Cora, don't you get to attracted to Ryan." She said, her amber eyes staring right at me. "He's mine. He will be mine soon."

"I don't even know-" I squeaked, scared.

"Shut up." She demanded. I instantly stopped talking. It was like my mind wanted her to be it's ruler, but my heart didn't want her to. I was terrified. How did she control me? Was this magic? Was she a greek goddess in disguise?

"Jewel!" A voice shouted. The girl's eyes widened and she turned and ran. I stood frozen on my spot.

"Are you ok?" A person walked up to me. In the dim light of the moon, I could see a girl with thick, black hair and dark, velvety skin. "Sorry." She apologized. "Jewel… is well… " She winced. "Rather, uh, normal… compared to the other Aphrodite girls." _Normal? Her?_ This girl must be crazy.

"How does she… control minds?" I asked.

"Well, sometimes, Aphrodite kids get the power to charm speak. But we rarely do. Drew has charmspeak, well, now she's in college and she can't hurt anyone at camp anymore. Also, Jewel has charmspeak. She's like a mini version of Drew, practically. It's torture. Piper, our old counselor also had charm speak but she used it for good reasons." She stuffed her hands in her jeans. "Because she's off fighting, I'm now the counselor."

"So… Jewel isn't a goddess?"

The girl threw her head back and laughed. "No." She said. "But I bet she wished she was."

"Um… where do I go?" I asked. "To sleep, I mean."

"Oh." She said. "To the Hermes cabin. Here, let me show you." All the people were almost gone and most of the lights in the cabins were off. "Oh no!" She exclaimed suddenly. I stopped and instantly started to look around. Was there an angry tree nymph? " I forgot to tell you my name!" She said. "Well, my name's Luna." The name seemed fitting for her. She was elegant and tall and she seemed to be emitting light and positive energy. We stopped in front of an old beaten down cabin- an emphasis on the word old. Even in the dark, I could see the peeling paint on the cabin.

"Thanks." I told Luna as I stepped inside. It seemed like a pretty normal cabin. A couple of bunks filled with people, a few sleeping bags on the floor. The cabin looked worn down from the inside too. The corners of the cabin had cobwebs and there were dust bunnies underneath the bunks.

"Erm…" I said awkwardly as everyone stared at me. "Where do I sleep?" A person who looked like a high schooler spoke up.

"We stole you a sleeping bag from the camp store. It's right there." He pointed at a blue sleeping bag on the floor, then grinned mischievously. "I hope you enjoy your stay here."

I walked over to the sleeping bag, tired and relieved. I sat down- _blarp!_ Everyone snickered. My face was totally red. I stood up and pulled out a Whoopee Cushion from underneath my sleeping bag. I glared at the high schooler who shrugged and said, "What? I didn't do it. Those pranks are for beginners." I shot one last glare at him, then disappeared into my sleeping bag. I stuck my hands under my pillow and-

"Ewww!" I exclaimed. "What is this?" I unearthed a bottle of toothpaste from underneath my pillow. My hands were covered in gooey paste and my pillow smelled like mint. That was the final straw. _Maybe, I could find Luna and she'll let me sleep in her cabin._ I thought. I rolled the sticky sleeping bag into a ball and kicked it at a Hermes kid. Then, I stormed out into the night. There was practically no light, so I stumbled around blindly. I assumed the Aphrodite cabin would be pretty and delicate, but it was way better than I imagined. The light inside the cabin was still on and through the window, I could see that the walls were white marble and the floor was pink and fuzzy. I stepped inside and nearly fainted at the strong smell of perfume. A gaggle of girls were sitting on the ground in a circle gossiping. I found Luna sitting on her bunk reading a fashion magazine.

"Um…" I said. "Luna?" Luna looked up from her magazine.

"Hi! Wait. What are you doing here?" She asked, looking extremely confused.

"Well… the Hermes kids are a little… uh… actually… very prankster-like."

Luna looked at my hands and my shirt, which was smeared in toothpaste. "What happened?" She asked. I explained _everything_. From the Whoopee Cushion, to the toothpaste and, of course, Jewel. "Jewel gets whatever she wants. Her dad is an actor in Hollywood and he gives her everything she demands. She's never had competition for a boy ever."

"But, I don't even like him!" I said. "I just met him!"

"Well, " Luna continued. "Ryan.. didn't fall for Jewel at all. Most boys fall for all Aphrodite kids… but… Ryan wasn't a sucker for money and beauty."

"Luna?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you have an extra sleeping bag I could use? Maybe I could just stay here for a night?" I asked hopefully.

"Oh, yeah. Sure you can." She said. She pulled out a light pink sleeping bag and a lacey white pillow from the supply closet. I peeked over her shoulder and saw a pair of hideous nurse shoes sitting on the middle shelf.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing at them.

"They're the punishment shoes from when Drew was a counselor." She shuddered. "They don't match with _anything_ at all."

"Uh… that's terrible." I said and hoped she didn't detect any sarcasm. Luna nodded solemnly. I turned my laughter into a cough. I spread the sleeping bag on the floor and zipped myself inside. It was surprisingly fluffy and felt like my bed at home. The moment my head hit the pillow, I fell asleep.


End file.
